pensions

Ernie Almonte can’t make up his mind. Now he’s an “independent” running for general treasurer. But he began the 2014 campaign season as a Democrat running for governor. He was the first to announce, way back in November 2012 right after the last election. He soon realized that there was no way he would win […]

Future generations studying Rhode Island at the turn of the 21st Century will be embarrassed when they get to the part on pension politics. Those were the days, they will note, when economic growth hit a bump in the road and some of the richest people in society launched a very expensive, targeted and secretive […]

I spent a little time recently with the new report on Providence’s municipal pension plan, and then I read an article on golocalprov that wanted me to panic about it, quoting the usual chorus of scolds who want us to defund public services. Then I went back and read the report some more and I still […]

The Economic Policy Institute has release a short issue brief on the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act (RIRSA) by Robert Hiltonsmith that manages to get all of the details right but the big picture entirely wrong. The EPI Issue Brief details the differences between the retirement system for state workers before and after the passage […]

Seattle, like Rhode Island, sunk a healthy chunk of its pension investment into hedge funds. And here’s hoping the Ocean State’s 14 percent foray into these riskier alternative investments works out better than the 8 percent gamble did for the Emerald City. From Sunday’s Seattle Times: Shorn of its complexity, the story reads like a […]

Are pensions coming back into fashion? Perhaps, said progressive hero Senator Elizabeth Warren who was in Providence last night at a fundraiser at the Convention Center for her Senate Banking Committee colleague Jack Reed. Hailed as one of Wall Street’s worst nightmares and the intellectual godmother of Occupy Wall Street, Warren told me that public […]

This time of year folks compile their year-end reading lists; so as we head into the holiday week, with pension debates and fiscal cliffs waiting for us on the other side of the calendar, I wanted to offer some suggestions: The first is a just released paper from Steven M. Teles, Associate Professor of Political […]

Regular readers of the blog know that Treasurer Raimondo has become a lightening-rod for criticism of the state’s recent changes to the public employee pension system. As a tactic, I’ll admit it’s a good one, simultaneously riling up the base and drawing media attention to the union and retiree’s position. It’s also the first salvo […]

Can someone with a pension be an objective judge of whether it’s ok to cut someone else’s pension? The state is making an argument that Judge Sarah Taft-Carter is compromised and can’t consider issues concerning the 2011 state pension overhaul because her son and mother receive checks from the state system. Seems worth reviewing the […]

It’s striking the difference in how efforts to cut public sector pension benefits are playing out in Providence compared to the state level – as municipal retirees are agreeing to a compromise in the Capital City, state retirees are gearing up for a legal fight in court. About 80 percent of Providence retirees voted in […]

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent revelations in the struggle over pension reform in Providence but unions there would do well to recall Bob Flander’s now-famous advice of a haircut being better than a beheading. Let’s assume labor is right when it assumes a judge would invalidate the proposed (though possibly morphing) […]